I’m back.  Yes, it’s been a while.  Ok,.. 72 days is more than a while, true.

Fact is, life’s been coming at us pretty fast. 

We had a great visit from my mother and grandmother at the end of July and through mid August.   For Mom and Grandma’s first trip to Europe, we took them all around Holland, to Belgium (Bruges), to Paris, and then they went to Rome together.  As a parent I appreciate what a fantastic feeling it is to give your kids a new experience, but introducing Europe to my mother and grandmother,.. as MasterCard would say,.. priceless. 

Since then, we’ve been pulled in a lot of directions.  School got started again, so that means another Baseball season.  I spent most of September traveling for work:  Munich, Berlin, China, S.Holland.  With all that time away from work, I also transitioned into a new position (again!), so I’m learning a whole new discipline on top of everything else.

The W-Curve:  or, “No, you are not going insane”

Many people told us about the W-curve, in some way or another.   Supposedly everyone goes through it at some point.  It may be 4 months in, it may be 6 months in, but everyone goes through it within the first 7 months.  

I wrote it off. 

    “ Nah,.. I’ve moved a lot, and I’ve traveled even more.   If I         didn’t experience culture shock moving from Chicago to Arkansas, then I surely won’t now. “

SLAP!  (the sound of reality hitting you in the face)

The W-curve, a nice term for culture shock,  is a well documented phenomenon that plots the emotional movement from Honeymoon, Culture Shock, Initial Adjustment, Mental Isolation, and finally Acceptance/Integration.  I can’t tell you for sure which phase we are in, but we are definitely beyond the honeymoon phase.  Yes, we still do enjoy very much living here, but we are now much more aware of the challenges, and find ourselves yearning for the simplicity of the familiar.  

Yeah, we’ve been to Paris.  We’ve done the Tuscany thing.  We’ve driven really fast on the autobahn.  We’ve seen most of Holland and a fair amount of Belgium.   We’re headed to Germany’s Black Forest in a couple of weeks.  Going snowboarding in the French Alps in February.  I’ve been fortunate to make some trips to China and other less exotic places.  But at some point the novelty wears off, challenges are viewed more as nuisances rather than adventures.   Yes, life here is very rewarding, but the tough part of the W-curve is that the emotional ups and downs of such a life change makes it easy to lose perspective. 

What does it feel like?

Language

I’ve been doing my best to learn Dutch, but at some point I really don’t want to hear the language any more.  It grates on my ears, and rather than listening to learn I find myself trying to tune it out.

Interaction

The novelty of me to my colleagues is also wearing off, so they now expect me to now understand, comprehend and contribute.   Still, while we speak English in the office, the communication is different enough that I have to spend more energy interpreting, so I get frustrated with myself because it harder for me to process and analyze information.  The differences in body language and the directness of the Dutch compounds the matter. 

Energy

I’m tired.   My daily commute takes 3 hours out of my day.  I’m accustomed to 10-20 minutes each way.   Travel is tough.  Living on one car makes dividing and conquering hard to do on the weekends.  

Criticism

When the shiny gloss of the new place rubs off, it’s easy to become critical.   Is there anything besides Euro Techno and Dutch Ballads (holy smokes, Dutch is totally not the right language for a sappy love song!) on the radio?  Does table water really have cost that much in a restaurant?  If I hear “that’s not possible” again, I think I’m going to freak. 

So,.. yes,.. I’m in the W-curve.  Jana is too.   The kids are, but they don’t know it.  Well, Mason isn’t (that kid’s a rock!), but the girls sure are.   It’s inevitable.   The question becomes not whether it will happen, but what will we do in response?   In our case, we remain faithful, we remember our purpose, and we agree as a family to be honest with ourselves about what we are feeling.   I think just by going through this emotional roller coaster lately, our family is a bit stronger because we have to rely on one another a little more.

We press on.  Cluelessly, clumsily, tiredly (is that a word?), and hyper-critically we press on.   We are thankful to be surrounded by great expat friends here, wonderful family and friends back home, and a warm church environment that keeps us grounded.  

,...... but I really will FREAK if I hear “that’s not possible”  one more time!!!!!!!!!!!